How many people in the North East will receive benefit boosts as pensions and Universal Credit rise by 10%

Tens of thousands of benefits claimants in the North East have been boosted by an increase just below the current rate of inflation.

That means a total of 67,520 people across the region will see their state pensions, housing benefits, Universal Credit, and other benefit payments rise by 10.1%- which was the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation in September.

But while that figure has been used to calculate inflation, the CPI hit 11.1% in October, higher than analysts were expecting and the highest rate in 40 years.